Four Pillars of Wellbeing

The Contentment Foundation has developed a simple method for feeling balanced no matter what life throws at you.

Methods for feeling balanced no matter what life throws at you

What’s the secret to happiness? It was deep within Eastern Bhutan that American psychologist, Dr Daniel Cordaro, got his first glimpse of an answer. He was there on a research trip with his team from UC Berkeley conducting the world’s largest study on the cross-cultural expression of human emotions, and he was beginning to recognise a universal theme. “We were surprised to find that contentment resonated with most of the people we studied as central to realising sustainable happiness in life,” says Cordaro.

Bhutan was the last stop on their list, a small

Buddhist kingdom known for their progressive climate policies, and commitment to citizen happiness.

There, Cordaro and scholars Lisa Flynn and Dr Dorji Wangchuk, visited one of the last uncontacted people groups in the world, and were met again with a familiar word: “contentment” – or “chok shay.”

Directly translated, “chok shay” means “the knowledge of enough”. In other words, “right here, right now, everything is perfect as it is without needing to do anything more.”

“It was a simple, yet revolutionary concept for me,” says Cordaro, “because instead of striving to be more, have more, and do more, contentment meant that

I was already whole just as I was.”

The villagers were poor by Western standards, but they were rich in community and a rich philosophical lineage. There was a palpable sense that they really were content. This contrasted dramatically with what Cordaro experienced back home, where people can never seem to attain enough money, friends or success. Determined to find the answer, Cordaro returned home to continue his research. Leading a team of psychologists from the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, he dug deep into the wisdom of ancient cultures and philosophical literature and spent years testing these principals using the scientific method.

This led Cordaro and his team to define four pillars of wellbeing to adopt for a more contented life.

While Cordaro believes these pillars are beneficial to everyone, he is particularly passionate about teaching the techniques to the next generation of world leaders. Along with his wife Lisa Flynn, in 2016 he co-founded the Contentment Foundation, which offers child- and adult-centered wellbeing curricula to schools internationally.

“The Contentment Foundation believes in a world where happiness is cultivated from the inside-out. We encourage people to draw their attention inside and discover for themselves the unconditional wellness that has been there all along,” he says.